# Give me a good anime.



## Keta (Aug 6, 2010)

I dare you to give me a good anime to watch. Requirements: <53 episodes (preferably 26 or less), and created after 2002 (I dislike most old-style animation, and I'd like to be up-to-date with more current things).

I have a lot downloaded, but I'll take my chances and let y'all decide something for me, because I'm shamelessly lazy. With any luck, your pick may be within my downloaded list.

Also, let's make this a game. Try to name a series I haven't watched yet. :D

And please don't throw cheese at me like Asu no Yoichi or H2O~ Footprints in the Sand or Kanokon or This Ugly Yet Beautiful World. I hated those shows with a burning passion, and I doubt those shows have garnered any fans who can truthfully say that the series affected their perspective on life. I want to hear from you, what show(s) inspired you, and why they are godly, and why I must watch them. 

Convince me.


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## Adriane (Aug 6, 2010)

Did you ever watch Utena? :( I mean I know it's pre-2002 but it is lovely


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## surskitty (Aug 6, 2010)

I'm going to ignore the bit about dates and say you should watch Slayers if you want something ridiculous and awesome and D&D-y.  The third season's pretty awful, so skip it; that means there'd be two 26-episode seasons from about ten years ago and two seasons of a length I do not know from maybe a year ago that I haven't watched.  It's pretty cool though, even if the art's a bit dated.


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## Clover (Aug 6, 2010)

ヒャッコ！ It's twelve episodes, all subbed on youtube, 2008-09, and has the catchiest theme song. IT'S ONLY LOVE~ DEMO AI GA NAKYA HAJIMARA~NAI~

Have you ever seen .hack//legend of the twilight bracelet? Also twelve eps, also available on youtube, also late-2000 era. I'm linking to the dub cause that's what I grew up watching, but udewa densetsu shouldn't be too hard to find either.

... All the rest of my anime are either nostalgia-nineties or I know you've seen them before. 83


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## Ether's Bane (Aug 6, 2010)

K-on, K-on, K-on, K-on, K-on, K-on, and K-on. Oh, and K-on.


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## Storm Earth and Fire (Aug 6, 2010)

Have you seen Angel Beats!? My favorite anime of 2010, and we've still got plenty to go, but honestly I have yet to see anything else this year that stacks up. It's by Key, which is always a good start. Pulls off a good mix of comedy and drama, mixing supernatural with school life. The cast is mostly enjoyable. The action scenes are slick. And I love the music. At the very least, it's got guns and guitars.

For romance, try Myself ; Yourself. In the end, I think it was closer to a typical harem than I would like to think, but it's quite well done. I like the character designs.

.hack//legend of the twilight bracelet could've been more compared to the manga.

One of my favorite anime ever. Actually, maybe my favorite ever, is Aria. The 3 seasons and OVA combined to make 55 episodes, but I can't suggest actually watching too much of it at once, the series is best taken slowly. It's a pure slice-of-life, with no real plot, little character conflict, and not enough comedy to, well, justify calling it a comedy. Someone on MAL put it best when they said every episode made them feel like they were on vacation. Great show to just unwind with, since you don't really have to concern yourself with anything or think too hard. It's not for everyone, I'll admit, but I say give it a try if you've got nothing.


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## fresh fruit for Adol (Aug 6, 2010)

James said:


> I'm going to ignore the bit about dates and say you should watch Slayers if you want something ridiculous and awesome and D&D-y.  The third season's pretty awful, so skip it; that means there'd be two 26-episode seasons from about ten years ago and two seasons of a length I do not know from maybe a year ago that I haven't watched.  It's pretty cool though, even if the art's a bit dated.


You mean Slayers Revolution, and Slayers Evolution-R?  Those are both around 12 episodes each.  That said, Slayers is a lot of fun, and the last two seasons are actually pretty good.  Revolution and Evolution-R were apparently localized sometime last year, and I didn't find out 'till this summer >.>  it's pretty cool that they got _all_ of the original voice actors to reprise their roles (Not counting two particular characters, since the first voice actor for one disappeared after episode 11, and I guess they couldn't get the original for hte other...)

Okay, first of all, you need to watch Cowboy Bebop if you haven't seen it before.

It's about 50 episodes long, but I do recommend The Law of Ueki.  It's silly in perspective (Turning trash into trees lol), but it's actually really good, and starts to really pick up after the first twenty or so episodes.  Darker than BLACK is also a personal favorite of mine.

No idea how long it's supposed to be (It's on...  19 now, I believe), but check out Heroman.  It might end up being a 50 episode series at least.  Not only is it made by the Lagann team, but Stan Lee is one of the creators :o

It's not an actual series, _per se_, but DO look at the Kara no Kyoukai series of movies.  In addition to having some _excellent_ animation, and wonderful soundtracks by Kajiura Yuki, it's got a pretty interesting, and awesome main character, and the plot of each movie, and the series as a whole, while it can be confusing, are actually pretty good.  Bear in mind that the series was actually adapted from a book by Kinoko Nasu, the same guy who created the visual novels Tsukihime, and Fate/stay night.  If you saw the anime adaptations of those and didn't like them (Who didn't?  They were terrible), don't let that sway you from watching them; Nasu actually oversaw the production of each movie, and having actually read the book, I can honestly say the adaptation is nearly spot on and as good as the book.)

If you're into comedy, Arakawa Under the Bridge is hilarious.  And Ookami-san is probably the first really good romantic comedy I've seen.  It's on episode 6 now, and it's supposed to run for about 12, or 13, I think, but do give a thought.

Oh, and Fullmetal, even though I'm sure you've watched the first anime, and Brotherhood.

Baccano! is an excellent choice of anime; it's perfect for the kind of person who likes those sorta gritty mob stories, and it's got a cast of uniquely likable characters, and branching stories and scenes that all come together in the end, and a really fun soundtrack (Nowhere near the league of Cowboy Bebop, but it's still good), and the Opening's catchy :o  The dub's actually really good too!  I also dare you to find a character you _don't_ like in it.


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## Storm Earth and Fire (Aug 6, 2010)

Blazing Hearts said:


> It's about 50 episodes long, but I do recommend The Law of Ueki.


It's 52 episodes. I quite liked The Law of Ueki. Silly, but in some ways, it managed to parody the shounen action genre.



Blazing Hearts said:


> Baccano! is an excellent choice of anime; it's perfect for the kind of person who likes those sorta gritty mob stories, and it's got a cast of uniquely likable characters, and branching stories and scenes that all come together in the end, and a really fun soundtrack (Nowhere near the league of Cowboy Bebop, but it's still good), and the Opening's catchy :o  The dub's actually really good too!  I also dare you to find a character you _don't_ like in it.


And along those lines, Durarara!! is a lovely show by the same authors along the same lines, though in a Japanese rather than Western setting.

By the way, I hear nothing but negative press about H2O (At best, 'brought down by some massive flaw'), but the game seems to be good...


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## surskitty (Aug 6, 2010)

Blazing Hearts said:


> You mean Slayers Revolution, and Slayers Evolution-R?  Those are both around 12 episodes each.  That said, Slayers is a lot of fun, and the last two seasons are actually pretty good.  Revolution and Evolution-R were apparently localized sometime last year, and I didn't find out 'till this summer >.>  it's pretty cool that they got _all_ of the original voice actors to reprise their roles (Not counting two particular characters, since the first voice actor for one disappeared after episode 11, and I guess they couldn't get the original for hte other...)


Yes!  (omg SOMEONE ELSE HAS SEEN SLAYERS why is it apparently obscure)  I haven't seen them yet.

Does David Moo still voice Xellos in the dub?  Say no.


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## fresh fruit for Adol (Aug 6, 2010)

James said:


> Yes!  (omg SOMEONE ELSE HAS SEEN SLAYERS why is it apparently obscure)  I haven't seen them yet.
> 
> Does David Moo still voice Xellos in the dub?  Say no.


Slayers might be obscure, I dunno; not many people I know have heard of it, but I don't know why it's considered so (Maybe partly because I grew up with it...).  Do check out the last two seasons!  They're just as awesome and out there as the series has always been.

And no, he doesn't.  Xellos is voiced by Michael Sinterniklaas now.


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## surskitty (Aug 6, 2010)

Blazing Hearts said:


> Slayers might be obscure, I dunno; not many people I know have heard of it, but I don't know why it's considered so (Maybe partly because I grew up with it...).  Do check out the last two seasons!  They're just as awesome and out there as the series has always been.
> 
> And no, he doesn't.  Xellos is voiced by Michael Sinterniklaas now.


And they're pretty!  I will watch them at some point.

That is wonderful, wonderful news; I liked the dub for everyone except Xellos.  Whyyyy David Moo whyyyyyy


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## Chopsuey (Aug 6, 2010)

I don't know anything at all about anime, but my anime-addicted friend is a huge fan of one called _Hell Girl_, if that helps?


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## Superbird (Aug 6, 2010)

Have you tried jap. subbed Lucky Star yet? I like it, and just over 20 eps.


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## goldenquagsire (Aug 6, 2010)

not sure quite what you're looking for, but a few suggestions can't hurt.

have you watched _Soul Eater_ yet? it's 50 episodes long, but the art style is pretty unusual. low-brow shonen fare, yes, but very entertaining and slightly oddball. especially the batshit-mad antagonists and the very competent female lead.

also, although it was released in the 90s, _Macross Plus_ is short (only 6 episodes) and has extremely high-quality animation (arguably better than a lot of stuff released now). it's also got a rather mature storyline (relative to the majority of anime anyway) with utterly non-bishie/moe characters, great soundtrack and plenty of mecha-porn, if that's your thing.

those are just two ends of the spectrum, really; medium-length shonen manga adaptation or mecha OVA. if you're more specific about what you're looking for then I could give more suggestions (or alternatively I could just list a million Gundam shows :P). and keep an open mind about older stuff! particularly OVAs, there are some short-run shows from ages ago that are absolutely beautiful to watch.


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## Zuu (Aug 6, 2010)

I enjoyed Neon Genesis Evangelion but you've probably already seen it. I need to see the movies.


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## fresh fruit for Adol (Aug 6, 2010)

Ignoring that bit about age, watch GaoGaiGar.  It's epic, and easy to where Gurren Lagann came from, if you've seen the latter, and how the ONE WITH THE MOST COURAGE IS THE VICTOR.  The Super Robots have nothing on Lagann's galaxy sized mechs, but it's hard to stop watching once you get past the first 20 episodes.


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## Clover (Aug 6, 2010)

プレゼント·ディ

プレゼント·タイム

ハハハハハハハ


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## spaekle (Aug 6, 2010)

The only recent-ish anime I've seen that fits your criteria and that I liked (edit: disregarding things everyone's seen like Death Note and TTGL) was Kuroshitsuji. It takes place in Victorian England and is very silly; the manga might be better but I haven't read a whole lot of it. 

Most of what I watch is cheesy shounen shit that's only really good for some lulz.


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## hopeandjoy (Aug 6, 2010)

AiR TV's pretty good, if you don't mind crying like a baby at the end. Though, the beginning has actual jokes, at the end of any arc you get progressively sadder and sadder bittersweet endings, ending in one of the greatest tearjerkers ever.

But if you can put up with all that, it's a very sweet series/OVA.


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## fresh fruit for Adol (Aug 6, 2010)

Generic shounen is generic.  And stupid, 95% of the time.

(Also, I'm probably the only one who's never seen Death Note >D)

Oh yeah, in the same vein as Slayers, check out Sorcerous Stabber Orphen.  It's sorcery, like Slayers, but not quite as D&D inspired, and not as comedic.  It takes an actual serious tone to itself, with a bit of humor here and there, but only watch the first season.  Season 2 is okay, but compared to the first season, it's garbage, but at the same time not bad (you know what I mean, right?) and has none of the charm the first season had.  It's more or less the generic fantasy/action/comedy with monster-of-the-week stuff, and while it does it well, we've all grown up with it, so we've seen it.


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## goldenquagsire (Aug 6, 2010)

> Generic shounen is generic. And stupid, 95% of the time.


but that's the point of shonen! it's like why I enjoy playing most Final Fantasy games - they're pretty stupid and contain nothing of artistic merit, but they're entertaining. similarly, generic shonen is good simply because it's nothing more than people shouting and throwing electric balls at each other.


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## surskitty (Aug 6, 2010)

goldenquagsire said:


> it's like why I enjoy playing most Final Fantasy games - they're pretty stupid and contain nothing of artistic merit


Hey!

The soundtracks are good.


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## goldenquagsire (Aug 6, 2010)

James said:


> Hey!
> 
> The soundtracks are good.


tru dat, but sadly music does not a great game make. :(


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## fresh fruit for Adol (Aug 6, 2010)

goldenquagsire said:


> tru dat, but sadly music does not a great game make. :(


Not unless you're DJ Max Portable 2 <3


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## Keta (Aug 6, 2010)

Haven't watched Utena, Slayers, .hack... :S Old school may be harder for me to find. I've always heard good things about .hack though, but I've never played the games either, not owning any prerequisite game systems... :|

Cowboy Bebop, Baccano! I've been meaning to look into, I heard it's one of the classics. Same with Arakawa (SHAFT ANIMATION *o*), Aria (slice of life in... neo-Venezia?) and Kara no Kyoukai.

I've watched Hyakko (<3), K-ON (lulz girls), Angel Beats (FLYING CHAIRS drizzled with bawww), Durarara (!!! epic), Lucky Star (4girls again with way too many anireferences, but I only like kagami/konata), Soul Eater (fun stuff), Evangelion (I loved it. mindfuck)... yes, I've watched nearly all the Key stuff- Clannad, Kanon, Air. 

And yes I am watching Ookami-san. I hate the narrator (Kuroko). KUROKO RUINS EVERYTHING.

Actually, I've never watched the first Fullmetal Alchemist series. However, I've watched Brotherhood- and loved it. It's one of the few shows for which I can say has an amazing plotline, story, and characters- with undertones of romance and comedy here and there. I like the shows that make you question how you want to live and what life really means- and this is pretty broad, but the general idea is that after watching the show, my everyday looks a little different than it used to.


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## Butterfree (Aug 8, 2010)

My favorite anime is Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, which is (I think) 27 episodes including a clip show recap episode in the middle and is from 2006-7. I don't know if you've seen it or what you like, but if you haven't, it's an extremely silly, epic giant mecha anime that turns out to make a strange amount of sense in its own completely nonsensical way. Also, it's epic. And there are epic speeches of DETERMINATION. And the characters have a surprising amount of depth and their relationships are interesting and also Kamina is hot and perpetually shirtless.

It's not perfect, but I at least love it to death. Do give it a chance if you haven't seen it.


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## goldenquagsire (Aug 11, 2010)

> Evangelion (I loved it. mindfuck)...


well I havent watched either series but word on the street is that Fafner of the Azure and RahXephon are equally mindfucky (the latter is often said to be better than Eva). they also have mechs!


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## fresh fruit for Adol (Aug 11, 2010)

Fafner was alright, and I didn't particularly care for RahXephon (PERSONALLY.  This is just me).  I found Evangelion and its movies to be much better than the Fafner and Xephon.  The Rebuild series is so far really good too.  At least, of the two movies that have come out.


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## Storm Earth and Fire (Aug 12, 2010)

In my experience, you either prefer Evangelion of RahXephon. I suggest giving both a taste (you've already tried Eva) and figuring it out for yourself.

Also, Mnemosyne is awesome. Short, too, with 6 45-minute episodes.


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## fresh fruit for Adol (Aug 12, 2010)

Did I mention Heroman in any of my previous posts?  So far it's been excellent.


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## ignore_this_acct (Aug 15, 2010)

You should watch Clannad and Clannad: After Story if you want to watch something funny and sad. Its about  51 episodes total. For the record, Clannad, Air TV and kanon were mande from games by the same company. Angel Beats was also made my the same company.


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## Tailsy (Aug 16, 2010)

Pinestar said:


> You should watch Clannad and Clannad: After Story if you want to watch something funny and sad. Its about  51 episodes total. For the record, Clannad, Air TV and kanon were mande from games by the same company. Angel Beats was also made my the same company.


Oh god, I didn't like any of those at all. Might just have been me, but I wanted to bludgeon half the characters to death with a rusty spoon. So _irritatingly_ cutesy. And the main character of Clannad could piss right off. He was such a douche to Fuuko. They're not very good IMO.

Well, Clannad, Air and Kanon anyway; I haven't watched Angel Beats! but it looks a bit crapola.

I think Keta's watched those anyway... I don't know, but it seems like something she'd be interested in somehow.


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## Evil Link (Aug 16, 2010)

_Fate/Stay Night_ would be my highest recommendation. It's a fantasy action style animé, though has some romance as well if you're interested. My favourite animé and the only one I've ever watched through twice. Brilliant characters, music, story, everything is right - for me, at least. Except maybe how it's squashed into just 24 episodes, but that seems to suit your taste anyway.

You said you've watched the key stuff, but I saw no mention of _The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi_ or _Death Note_. Though Death Note has probably been mentioned already.

_Higurashi no Naku Koro ni_ is also a fantastic psychological thriller. Fair bit of gore, but even still has a great story, mood and characters.


They would be my recommendations. I haven't watched much animé, but I thoroughly enjoyed what I listed here. Other animé I have watched and enjoyed include _Fullmetal Alchemist_ and _K-On!_, but they've already been mentioned.


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## Adriane (Aug 16, 2010)

Evil Link said:


> You said you've watched the key stuff, but I saw no mention of _The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi_ or _Death Note_. Though Death Note has probably been mentioned already.


Mainstream anime is mainstream :( Haruhi isn't bad, though.


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## fresh fruit for Adol (Aug 16, 2010)

Evil Link said:


> _Fate/Stay Night_ would be my highest recommendation. It's a fantasy action style animé, though has some romance as well if you're interested. My favourite animé and the only one I've ever watched through twice. Brilliant characters, music, story, everything is right - for me, at least. Except maybe how it's squashed into just 24 episodes, but that seems to suit your taste anyway.


The only problem with it being that they took the Fate route, and compressed into something relatively boring.  I still think they should've adapted the Heaven's Feel route too =/

At least the anime adaptation of Fate/stay night isn't terrible.  Like a certain other anime that would probably be crap if it existed.


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## Evil Link (Aug 16, 2010)

Vixie said:


> Mainstream anime is mainstream :( Haruhi isn't bad, though.


What's wrong with mainstream? Sure, it's over centralised more often than not, but usually it's like that for a reason.



Blazing Hearts said:


> The only problem with it being that they took the Fate route, and compressed into something relatively boring.  I still think they should've adapted the Heaven's Feel route too =/


Yeah, I agree that Fate is the worst route. But there is the Unlimited Blade Works adaptation. I'd say that's my favourite route, but that's a bit unfair since I never finished Heaven's Feel, in fact I barely started it. I just don't like Sakura much, so a whole route around her didn't intrigue me.


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## fresh fruit for Adol (Aug 16, 2010)

Evil Link said:


> What's wrong with mainstream? Sure, it's over centralised more often than not, but usually it's like that for a reason.
> 
> 
> Yeah, I agree that Fate is the worst route. But there is the Unlimited Blade Works adaptation. I'd say that's my favourite route, but that's a bit unfair since I never finished Heaven's Feel, in fact I barely started it. I just don't like Sakura much, so a whole route around her didn't intrigue me.


Yeah, I'm still waiting for a DVD release of the Unlimited Blade Works movie.  It's been what, six or seven months since release and still nothing?

not a lot of people seem to like Sakura for some reason :c  where's the Sakura loooooove mang?  Heck, I even like her dark side enough to the point that I main her in Fate/unlimited Codes.  And she's beastly in Battle Moon Wars :o


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## Evil Link (Aug 16, 2010)

Blazing Hearts said:


> Yeah, I'm still waiting for a DVD release of the Unlimited Blade Works movie.  It's been what, six or seven months since release and still nothing?
> 
> not a lot of people seem to like Sakura for some reason :c  where's the Sakura loooooove mang?  Heck, I even like her dark side enough to the point that I main her in Fate/unlimited Codes.  And she's beastly in Battle Moon Wars :o


I've been waiting too, but I remember reading somewhere about a mid-September release for the DVD, so not too much longer now if that source was correct.

And I don't like Sakura because she was always so clingy and helpless. Rin and Saber had some personality. But if there's a dark Sakura, which sounds more interesting, then I may go back and complete the route.


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## fresh fruit for Adol (Aug 16, 2010)

Evil Link said:


> I've been waiting too, but I remember reading somewhere about a mid-September release for the DVD, so not too much longer now if that source was correct.
> 
> And I don't like Sakura because she was always so clingy and helpless. Rin and Saber had some personality. But if there's a dark Sakura, which sounds more interesting, then I may go back and complete the route.


September release?  I can only hope so.  Waiting for the DVD release is almost as painful as waiting for the DVD release of Tales of Vesperia: First Strike was, and that was painful.  For me, at least.

Well playing through Heaven's Feel explains exactly why she acts the way she does, and Dark Sakura only comes around because a particular character was being a bitch, which then cues bad end if you did something wrong.

Heaven's Feel route at least ends well; in Tsukihime, neither of the endings in the Akiha route are good endings D:


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